boiler-plate. But he's got a big heart. He has been a good friend of
mine, so along with Derwent Conniston's story you've got to load up
with a lot about McDowell, too. There are many things--OH, GOD--"

He flung a hand to his chest. Grim horror settled in the little cabin
as the cough convulsed him. And over it the wind shrieked again,
swallowing up the yapping of the foxes and the rumble of the ice.

That night, in the yellow sputter of the seal-oil lamp, the fight
began. Grim-faced--one realizing the nearness of death and struggling
to hold it back, the other praying for time--two men went through the
amazing process of trading their identities. From the beginning it was
Conniston's fight. And Keith, looking at him, knew that in this last
mighty effort to die game the Englishman was narrowing the slight
margin of hours ahead of him. Keith had loved but one man, his father.
In this fight he learned to love another, Conniston. And once he cried
out bitterly that it was unfair, that Conniston should live and he
should die. The dying Englishman smiled and laid a hand on his, and
Keith felt that the hand was damp with a cold sweat.

Through the terrible hours that followed Keith felt the strength and
courage of the dying man becoming slowly a part of himself. The thing
was epic. Conniston, throttling his own agony, was magnificent. And
Keith felt his warped and despairing soul swelling with a new life and
a new hope, and he was thrilled by the thought of what he must do to
live up to the mark of the Englishman. Conniston's story was of the
important things first. It began with his acquaintance with McDowell.
And then, between the paroxysms that stained his lips red, he filled in
with incident and smiled wanly as he told how McDowell had sworn him to
secrecy once in the matter of an incident which the chief did not want